Aftermath Of Horror: Israel's Shells Aimed At Hezbollah Instead Brought Death To Civilians In A Un Refugee Center, Prompting Diplomatic Moves Designed To Halt The Carnage

QANA, Lebanon — The Israeli artillery barrage that rained death on a United Nations peacekeeping base packed with refugees lent new urgency Thursday to redoubled international diplomatic efforts to end the escalating Middle East conflict.

The shelling killed at least 75 Lebanese civilians in the bloodiest attack in Israel's eight-day offensive against Islamic Hezbollah guerrillas. It was the second major tragedy of the day: Israeli warplanes pulverized a home in Nabatiyeh, killing nine people. Among them was a mother and six of her children, including a 4-day-old girl.

Calling for an immediate cease-fire in Israel's conflict with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, President Clinton ordered Secretary of State Warren Christopher to skip planned U.S. meetings Saturday with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow and travel to the Middle East to seek a negotiated halt to the fighting.

"Today's events make painfully clear the importance of bringing to an end the current violence in Lebanon," Clinton said when he arrived in Russia after a flight from Japan.

Between 10 and 12 Israeli shells slammed into the UN base in Qana manned by peacekeeping troops from Fiji, spraying shrapnel and ripping heads and limbs off children and adults as they huddled, seeking shelter from the conflict. Estimates of the dead ranged as high as 94; about 120 people were reported injured.

Bodies and blood were scattered everywhere amid the shattered buildings, one of them ablaze with the wounded still inside. Scores of victims were evacuated amid the chaos to hospitals where children screamed in pain, women sobbed and men shouted the Arab cry "Allahu Akbar ("God is great") in anguish.

The floor of the operating area at Najem Hospital in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre was covered with blood and UN workers picked through the smoldering ruins at their base for hours putting bits of flesh, hair and bone into trashbags.

"I was stepping on dead people. I helped get the wounded. I was searching for my children," said a distraught Fatima Ismael, weeping afterwards in the hospital room with her injured son, Ali, 7, and daughter, Zeina, 4, both covered with cuts, burns and other wounds. "I saw a child cut in half with my own eyes."

Israeli Foreign Minister Ehud Barak expressed regret for the loss of life and called the artillery barrage an "unfortunate mistake."

Prime Minister Shimon Peres said Israel was prepared to accept a cease-fire if Hezbollah would, but affirmed that the Jewish state would continue to protect itself from the group's Katyusha rocket attacks against villages in northern Israel. He said Hezbollah had provoked the shelling Thursday.

"I think there will be more vigorous attempts not to hit civilians, but I don't think we will change our initial goal, which is to put an end to the launching of Katyusha rockets," said government spokesman Uri Dromi.

Lebanese survivors of the attack confirmed in interviews that they heard outgoing Katyushas fired from a hilltop olive grove less than a half mile from the camp perhaps 30 minutes before the Israeli shells fell.

Still, the slaughter of innocent men, women and children appeared likely to bolster Hezbollah's resolve to fight and intensify opposition to Israel's Operation Grapes of Wrath against the group.

The UN Security Council on Thursday night rejected an Arab resolution condemning "Israeli aggression" in Lebanon but approved a European-sponsored measure, backed by the U.S., calling on all sides to agree to a cease-fire.

Coming on the day Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat agreed to resume their stalled peace talks, the shelling also could threaten those separate discussions on final-status issues with the Palestinians.

The day's tragic events added complexity to an already complicated diplomatic and political situation for President Clinton.

Administration officials traveling with Clinton said the president was trying to walk a diplomatic tightrope: He wants to avoid undermining the Peres government as Israel approaches crucial elections May 29 yet still move vigorously to stop the fighting.

Clinton sent Christopher aide Dennis Ross, a veteran Middle East negotiator, to the region ahead of the secretary of state to try to arrange a cease-fire that could lead to a broader, more permanent settlement in the Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian portion of the regional peace process.

Before the attack, U.S. officials consistently sided with Israel, saying Hezbollah could end the current round of violence by ceasing its rocket attacks.

After the attack, though, the U.S. message shifted slightly to pointedly include all parties in the conflict. "An end to the fighting is essential to allow our diplomatic efforts to go forward," Clinton said, extending condolences to the Lebanese people for the victims of the Israeli attack.